Multimillion-Dollar Dana Park Makeover

A rendering of what Dana Park could look like after its pedestrian-centric makeover. Rendering credit: Nelsen Partners

By Maria Polletta for The Arizona Republic

With a glittering mix of shops, salons, boutique gyms and restaurants on an impeccably landscaped 66 acres, the Mesa sales-tax darling that is Dana Park Village Square isn’t exactly hurting for patrons.

But Houston-based developer Whitestone REIT — which bought the high-end “lifestyle center” in 2012 and has since boosted occupancy to 93 percent — believes a handful of improvements will attract more customers and persuade them to stick around longer.

Assuming the economy cooperates, those changes will constitute a $100M-plus investment into the plaza at Baseline Road and Val Vista Drive. They include:

70KSF of new retail and dining space, primarily in a new mixed-use cluster on the north side of the property that will “attempt to break up the monotony of a lengthy strip center.”

A four-story, 260- to 320-unit multifamily residential complex with penthouses, backing up to the shopping center’s northwestern edge.

A 40KSF movie theater on the northwestern corner of the center.

A six-story,102KSF hotel on the northeastern corner of the site, near Val Vista and the U.S. 60.

153KSF of additional office space, scattered throughout.

Combined with pedestrian-centric overhauls of walkways, entrances and parking lots, the improvements will infuse the center with “an influx of onsite patrons” and “enhance the life and vitality of the project as a whole,” according to the proposal submitted to the city.

The phases in which the Dana Park additions will be built depends on the market’s response, according to developers, who remain tight-lipped regarding who might occupy the hotel and theater.